About The Potter Trail
The original magical walking tour of Edinburgh’s Old Town.
We are currently taking private and virtual tour bookings only. Our public tours will return soon!
The Potter Trail Description
Prepare to enter a secret world…
Grab a wand and join your robed guide on the original tour in Edinburgh designed especially for Potter fans! You’ll discover the magical locations that inspired characters and scenes in the series, visit the places where JK Rowling wrote the books and even learn about the real-life witches and wizards of medieval Edinburgh.
Discover…
- Who the world’s worst poet was, and which Hogwarts teacher is named after him!
- Where Lord Voldemort is buried!
- In which café Rowling wrote the FIRST Potter book!
And much, much more.
Even if you’re not a Harry fan, there’s still plenty to entertain you on this lively and atmospheric tour, full of colourful characters from Edinburgh’s mysterious past.
Suitable for families. Muggles welcome!
Note: The Potter Trail is an unofficial tour that is not endorsed by or affiliated with Warner Bros. , JK Rowling or her publishers.
Reviews
Our brand new poster and flyer designs have landed! Catch these on various walls and counters around Edinburgh very soon...
Design courtesy of alexharwooddesign.com
Anyone looking for some extra Hogwarts homework when they are in Edinburgh - this is an exhibition documenting the real life attempts to produce the Philosophers' Stone. Make sure you get there before Voldemort does!
Soon all of Edinburgh and the rest of the world will be a Potter Trail!
A very well made student documentary featuring our very own Alex Harwood!
Warning: contains tour spoilers!
We got some lovely coverage from the Edinburgh Evening News. Acts as a nice little teaser trailer for the tour!
For anyone meticulously planning their trip to Edinburgh more than 4 months in advance please note that our April - August times for next year have changed slightly.
We will no longer be running extra 2pm tours on Saturdays. We'll be sending out 3 guides and splitting the groups at 12pm and 4pm instead to deal with the expected numbers.
Hope that all makes sense!
For anyone still planning their trip to Edinburgh (around coming on The Potter Trail of course) this is a pretty cool website giving you an idea of what else to do in the city even if you only have one day here. That is if you're not too busy casting spells on traffic lights and writing your latest novel in The Elephant House...
Floating Dobby spotted on the Royal Mile! This guy definitely used to be a floating Yoda. I think it’s fair to say the better franchise won...
Good news for anyone who likes to plan very far into the future - we now have public tour dates on our website stretching all the way until August 31st next year!
We also have some dates where you can catch some live magic on our tours coming up very soon.
Don't say we're not good to you!
Looking for a good recommendation this Edinburgh Fringe Festival? Two of our guides (Will and Eric) are performing in an entirely improvised Harry Potter comedy play! August 1st-26th, 8:45pm, Gilded Balloon! Tickets available at the link below (age rating 14+)!
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/spo ntaneous-potter
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... Grab your wands, don your house robes, and apparate yourselves to The Gilded Balloon at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival! A very magical improv show awaits...
Spontaneous Potter is an entirely improvised Harry Potter comedy play, based on an audience suggestion of a fanfiction title. An entirely new Potter adventure is magically improvised on the spot - with live musical accompaniment!
Brought to you by the comedy improvisers behind the critically-acclaimed and award-winning "Spontaneous Sherlock".
Note: Spontaneous Potter is an unofficial show that is not endorsed by or affiliated with Warner Bros., JK Rowling or her publishers. All rights to the ‘Harry Potter’ books and associated trademarks are the property of JK Rowling / her publishers. All film / image rights associated with the film series are property of Warner Bros.
Age rating: 14+
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Previous praise for Spontaneous Sherlock:
"Unbeatably clever" - Edinburgh Guide (★★★★★)
"Flawlessly executed improv comedy... pure, unadulterated hilarity" - EdFringeReview (★★★★★)
"Side-splitting laughter across the entirety of the performance" - Three Weeks (★★★★★)
Derek Award, Best PBH Show Edinburgh Fringe 2017 (Winners)
Top 100 Rated Show, Edinburgh Fringe 2017 (The List)
Best Variety, Scottish Comedy Awards 2018 (Nominees)
"Raucously funny... the highlight of the Fringe so far!" - TV Bomb (★★★★) "It’s no surprise that Spontaneous Sherlock has punters lining up along the pavement... if you're a fan of Sherlock, you must see this show" - Broadway Baby (★★★★)
"Spontaneous Sherlock is an infectiously riotous whirlwind of a show... orders of magnitude better than Benedict Cumberbatch" - EdFringeReview (★★★★)
"Professional quality improv done so, so right... certainly an event which lives up to its own hype" - Edinburgh49 (★★★★)
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A friendly reminder to any groups bigger than 10 trying to join our public tours - our guides WILL turn you away! Our guides are extremely adept at shield charms.
If you are a group of 10 or more (even if you are The Order of the Pheonix or Dumbledore's Army) the only way you can experience The Potter Trail is by booking a private tour with us. Please fill out the form below on our website and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
Fringe venue 356 is again officially open for business!
All this means for you lovely visitors to The Potter Trail is that as well as locating a statue of a dog as our starting location there is also a handy number for you to find! At least for the month of August that is.
The Potter Trail does not endorse the touching of Greyfriars Bobby’s nose.
Someone lost a railcard on the 12pm tour today! Is there a 'miss aakre' who wants to claim it?
The Potter Trail goes into MAXIMUM SUMMER OVERDRIVE from tomorrow. We're changing our tour times to 12pm and 4pm every day for June, July and August. We'll also be running extra 2pm tours on Saturdays and Sundays in July and August. Don't say we're not good to you!